The number of corporate bankruptcies rose 0.3 percent in February from a year ago to 1,448 for the first increase in two months, but debts left behind fell 7.6 percent to 1.115 trillion yen, a research institute said Wednesday.

While the amount of liabilities showed the first decline in 10 months, it topped 1 trillion yen for the first time in three months, Teikoku Databank Ltd. said.

Two companies listed on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange went under in the month, according to the survey covering corporate bankruptcies with liabilities of 10 million yen or more.

There were 12 failures of listed companies during the April-February period, topping the 10 in all of fiscal 1998.

Bankruptcies caused by the recession totaled 1,063 cases. This is 73.4 percent of the total number of failures, staying above the 70 percent line for the 19th-straight month.

By industry, failures of construction companies rose 1.7 percent from a year earlier to 428 in February, collapses of wholesalers climbed 4 percent to 259, retailers' bankruptcies increased 5.8 percent to 238, and 59 real estate firms went broke, up 13.5 percent.

But failures of manufacturers fell 9.6 percent to 227 while bankruptcies in the services sector declined 4 percent to 166.